I'm beginning to think self-employed people who make enough to disqualify for assistance are in that portion that will be funding the rest.

How so? You didn't receive federal assistance on your policy but you also getting the mandate tax credit (isn't that around $700?) I don't think any part of your premium is being collected by the federal government . People not buying inurance are getting the mandate and paying into the sytem helping to fund the rest.

I have Medicare now, so I can dodge the ACA site bullet. But now I've gotta get a new policy for my daughter. I'm gonna wait another week or two before I wade in, and I'm also gonna check out the OH Medicaid expansion, starting 12/9, because she may qualify. If not, I expect to find her a good plan cheap via healthcare.gov.

GOOD to hear you're making progress and may pay less.IF I can do an on line app for any task, I'll do it; but if the situation gets "Iffy" (lots of questions or possibilities) I like to talk to a real person ! Keeps you from going down the wrong road and getting shocked...e.g. premiums from $240 to > $500 !! . . BUT that's just me.

I'm beginning to think self-employed people who make enough to disqualify for assistance are in that portion that will be funding the rest.

How so? You didn't receive federal assistance on your policy but you also getting the mandate tax credit (isn't that around $700?) I don't think any part of your premium is being collected by the federal government . People not buying inurance are getting the mandate and paying into the sytem helping to fund the rest.

First: no, I don't qualify for the tax credit.

Second: It's an insurance pool, which by definition means the premiums of [healthy people/responsible drivers/etc.] pay for the costs of claims made by [less healthy people/less responsible drivers/etc.].

If your premiums go up and you don't qualify for any breaks/discounts/subsidies, you're absolutely paying more to fund the rest of the system. Which in the case of the ACA shouldn't be surprising since *somebody* (which would be the new and existing healthy people in the insurance pool) has to pay for the costs that aren't offset by government assistance ...

Unfortunately, the penalty/tax/whatever for individuals choosing not to participate is meant as more of a stick to get those people to join-up rather than a means of actually covering costs -- there's no way those penalties make-up for people actually paying premiums …

My point was that (at least in our little sampling of a whole two people ;-) it's looking like being self-employed and not qualifying for a subsidy is a particularly bad combination if you are hoping for a break on your premiums ...

But your premium is paid to the insurance company, not the federal government.

The way I see it the premiums are still sky high, same as always, maybe worse. For qualifying applicants the federal government supplies assistance making those policies "affordable". The insurance company is still the one profiting. That's why this was a plan devised by the geniuses at the Heritage Foundation.

The government saves enough from the payout to ER & Hospitals for the uninsured by the newly insured, saves by the ACA regulations on Medicare waste and duplicity, and somehow this all calculates to what the Congressional Budget Office says is a $800B savings over 10 years. So it goes.

Maybe the 2016 elections can bring about a clean sweep by the Democrats and we can move ahead with Medicare for all/single payer.

The way I see it the premiums are still sky high, same as always, maybe worse.

Ex-laxly. The whole problem's the out of control Health Care industry in general and the greedy bastiges that are making millions off of $20 bandaids, from insurance companies and hospitals, to the pharmaceuticals.

I doubt in our lifetime we'll ever see any change, they are too powerful and their influence is too deeply embedded in Washington. It's like big oil, no one wants to take them on.

But your premium is paid to the insurance company, not the federal government.

Of course premiums are paid to the insurance companies; for better or worse they're still the ones providing the insurance. I guess I'm missing the point you're trying to make here.

Look, the system is still funded by premiums -- the whole point of the mandate is to get more people into the system to pay premiums to cover the costs of expanding the insurance pool. The government is willing to subsidize some premiums but not others. If you don't qualify for subsidies / small business credits / any other offsets, you are going to be supporting more of the issuance pool out of your pocket than those who do qualify. It's pretty straight forward.

The insurance companies are scum-a-dum-dum. Their reason for being in the first place is to make money off potential diseases, and then, if you actually get a disease, to charge you more. I hate 'em hate 'em all.

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